Publisher/developer Webzen this week revealed details about its upcoming fantasy free-to-play MMO Archlord II. In its weapon-based, "classless class system", players can take on any combat role represented by various archetypes. The game will also feature "chained" skills.

Webzen has announced that it is accepting pre-registrations for the upcoming ArchLord II beta. Players can sign up using their Facebook profiles or by using their existing gPotato.eu, gPotato.com or Webzen.com accounts.

Webzen has announced that a pair of ArchLord servers will be merging on January 30th. The Xian and Gracia servers will be combined as a direct result of player feedback and to revitalize the siege warfare.

Webzen has announced that ArchLord will be expanding soon. Called "The Dark Revelation", the expansion will bring a major new feature on board in the form of the Shrine system. Shrine battles require cooperative teamwork to defeat other groups of players. Winners will earn Shrine Coins for successful wins.

Webzen has laid out its plans for the Archlord World Guild Championship that is scheduled to begin on June 11th with a final purse of $10,000. Teams can register now and opponents will be revealed on June 4th.

Webzen has sent word that the company's game portal site has been completely overhauled to bring new and better functionality to the site. In addition, Webzen let us know that a large content update is incoming for ArchLord.

GStar has kicked off in a big way this week and MMORPG.com's Richard Aihoshi will be there gathering news for our readers. As part of his prep-work for the convention, Richard had the opportunity to chat with S.J. Hong and Robin Lee of the ArchLord team about the game, where it's been and what the future holds. Read on!

Webzen has announced that ArchLord has been overhauled and will be expanding soon with the arrival of The Grand Cross. The expansion will be free for players and devs are adding a new PvP system called The Battle Ground where players can participate in massive Race vs Race wars.

Webzen has announced that ArchLord has opened a new server, signaling that the game has experienced a certain amount of growth since its changeover from Codemasters last year. The new server, dubbed Gracia, can be transferred to free of charge, and also offer significant incentives such as an over 200% boost to both experience and item/gold drop rates .
Additionally, Webzen will be launching a buddy system that allows you to link up with a buddy and earn rewards for clearing content.

Webzen has announced a new expansion for their free-to-play MMOG, ArchLord. The new expansion, which is called Episode 4: Chaotic Frontier, will feature an eponymous new dungeon system, six new playing fields, new armor complete with unique stats, as well as new monsters and boss encounters.

As we reported in the beginning of September, ArchLord was to be shut down due to the fact Codemasters was unable to renew their license to operate the game in North American and European territories. Since then, the game has officially relaunched under the Webzen banner and has returned to eager fans with the addition of a new class: the Swashbuckler. The Swashbuckler is a female-only melee class whose head is inexplicably adorned with a pair of rabbit ears.

In an announcement made today on the official ArchLord website, we've learned that the North American and European versions of ArchLord will be shutting down on Friday, October 2nd, 2009. The inability for Codemasters to negotiate a renewal of the licensing contract from NHN Korea to continue operating the game is stated as the reason behind the shut down. Starting on October 3rd, 2009, ArchLord will be operated by Webzen in the west, and a transition FAQ is now available.